News

Erie Aaministrator: 'This is not about setbacks, or buffers, or open space, and Lafayette knows it too'

By Anthony Hahn

Staff Writer

Posted:
07/22/2016 05:45:00 PM MDT

A Nine Mile Corner sign is pictured on the southeast corner of Arapahoe Road and U.S. 287. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

A Nine Mile Corner sign is pictured on the southeast corner of Arapahoe Road and U.S. 287. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

After months of rumors and speculation amid closed-door meetings regarding the development at the southeast corner of U.S. 287 and Arapahoe Road known as Nine Mile Corner, the border war came to a head on Friday as Lafayette filed a condemnation lawsuit with Boulder District Court against Erie, declaring the "intent to acquire real property for open space purposes and to protect Lafayette's unique community character."

The lawsuit comes months after Lafayette officials first moved to investigate the development of the corner in the wake of rumors that King Soopers might move there, and roughly a week after Erie officials announced an offer to establish a setback buffer between Lafayette's Beacon Hill neighborhood and the contested development.

Erie officials called the lawsuit "an attempt by Lafayette to acquire approximately half (22 acres) of the commercial/residential development" in an email blast sent out Friday afternoon.

Advertisement

"I guess we're not surprised that they've filed," Erie Town Administrator A.J. Krieger wrote in a statement. "Over the last few months Lafayette's gone from mud-slinging to phony investigations, to now lawsuits. Maybe at some point we can all at least be honest about what Lafayette's really trying to do here - eliminate competition for sales tax dollars. The plain truth is that Lafayette has been working for years to develop every inch of the west side of 287 - including conspiring with Boulder County to early-exit the Super IGA and offering development deals while the East Central IGA was still in effect."

The setback offer, which was based on recognized and accepted land-use standards in Lafayette, declared that the town was willing to incorporate and would require that a final site plan for Nine Mile Corner include "any setback buffer standard from the current Lafayette Municipal Code and/or to adhere to the buffer definition in the 2013 City of Lafayette Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Trails Master Plan," Erie announced last week.

"I am at least a little surprised that they never even acknowledged our offer to establish a setback buffer, let alone respond to it," Krieger wrote. "Keep in mind that we offered to apply their own development standards - from their code - to our project. As a minimum standard we offered the Beacon Hill residents the very same protection Lafayette's land development code would provide - and likely would wind up exceeding that standard in a final site plan."

Lafayette leaders have wanted a buffer between the Erie development and adjacent residents in Lafayette's Beacon Hill neighborhood since development plans were announced.

"We've been advocating for a community separator from the first day," Lafayette City Administrator Gary Klaphake said in April. "Our position is that (residents) need to be separated from that harsh development."

Without defined separation, Lafayette has feared its "unique identity" could be compromised as Erie's development boom encroaches.

Erie officials see Lafayette's motive, however, as a desire for retail sales tax revenue.

"It's not about open space; it's about retail sales tax revenue," Erie spokesman Fred Diehl said. "We think it makes a clear case that for years they've been doing everything within their power and means with the assistance of Boulder County to develop the west side of U.S. 287 and yet they don't want the same for the east side."

Lindsay Gadd, a development coordinator for Hix Snedeker, said earlier this year that competition between communities is "fairly common." But during a community meeting for the project in March, Ray Hix, the firm's co-founder, described the tension as rising to the level of municipal "nuclear war."

"There are dark forces between cities that are competing for these retail sites," Hix said of Nine Mile Corner and Lafayette Promenade at the time.

Lafayette's City Council voted in April to allow attorneys to take all necessary steps — including eminent domain — to acquire property slated for a retail center in Erie on the hotly contested border of the two communities.

On June 28 — in further preparation for the mixed-use project — Erie's Board of Trustees awarded a contract for the demolition of existing structures at the Nine Mile Corner site in the amount of $65,713 to Denver-based Alpine Demolition.

"This is not about setbacks, or buffers, or open space," Krieger wrote on Friday, "and Lafayette knows it too."

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story